Richard Bruton (Dublin North Central, Fine Gael)

That is what I find it difficult to accept. We are being asked time and again to accept on faith in respect of this legislation that the Minister has many things that are too sophisticated for him to explain fully to us in the House but that if we trust him he will have everything sorted. We would not be in the hole we are in if Ministers and advisers in the financial and regulatory system had the answers sorted. The Minister ignores sharp questions from Deputies on both sides of the House when he sums up. We do not have that level of confidence.

Has the Comptroller and Auditor General or the Attorney General been consulted in respect of EUROSTAT and whether our amendment would interfere with its independence? Do we have a legal opinion of our own even if we do not have a EUROSTAT opinion? I am not convinced that we should time and again accept that on the day everything will be right, that the Minister will form an Oireachtas committee that answers all our needs, will come up with a shareholders' agreement that answers all our problems or that we can afford to suspend our disbelief and let the Minister and his officials away with it. Unfortunately we have suspended our disbelief too often in the past and appalling consequences have come of that.

I cannot accept the Minister's assurances that we do not need some level of control. Intuition suggests that the Minister's shareholders' agreement with his veto and directive are far more likely to infringe what we know of EUROSTAT than my humble amendment, which simply provides for information to be presented and that the people on this board are suitable persons, do not have conflicts of interest, report effectively, and do not interfere with the objectives of NAMA. This amendment is eminently acceptable. It may need a small bit of tweaking but I think Deputy Gogarty will finally accept that it should be accepted in principle, subject to some tweaking in the Seanad to suit the Minister's requirements.

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